


Names and Barcodes

by OperaGoose



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 10:28:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11781258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OperaGoose/pseuds/OperaGoose
Summary: Two guys, and not a single Name between them. Prompto thought about it, one day, but it's too late. They're taking Noctis to get married now.





	Names and Barcodes

Crown Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV was a rarity. Okay, not _only_ for being the crystal’s chosen king of light - they had one of those every generation. No, Noct, as he was known to his friends, was something rarer than that. 

Every person, so it was said, had been born in twain. Their soul divided - usually between two bodies, though multiples were not unheard of. After one turned five years old, the name of your mate appeared on your skin, inked like a tattoo. Friends, or lovers - but they were meant for each other. 

Noct was a rarity. From his fifth birthday, the kingdom had waited with excitement for his joy to be known. But it never came. By the time Prompto had come to his school, he’d already been cloaked in the sadness - the loneliness. 

Prince Noctis didn’t have a Name. _Poor boy_ , the people of the empire whispered, _he doesn’t have a soulmate._ That was much rarer than a king of Lucis - the last recorded case of someone being without a Name had been hundreds of years ago. 

Prompto had felt for him - because he didn’t have a Name either. But for much more different reasons. 

You see, Prompto hadn’t exactly been born, like normal people. He didn’t have a Name - he had a barcode. He wasn’t exactly...human. He had been grown in a laboratory - a clone of a clone, meant to be one more body in an infantry for the empire. He may not have had a demon shoved in him before the Lucians had rescued him, but he still wasn’t _right_. 

Everyone assumed the leather strap on his wrist covered up a Name. He let them believe it. Names were a private thing, most people covered theirs. 

Prompto hadn’t been brave enough to approach Noctis until he was in high school. Until he wasn’t too _heavy_ to be a burden on him anymore. 

He grew close, quickly - and Noct made room for him too. 

By the time Prompto was part of Noct’s official royal entourage, he’d already seen Gladio and Ignis’s. The royal shield was shirtless more often than not, and amongst the artistic tattoos adorning his chest and arms, was the name of a certain royal advisor. He’d wondered about their relationship \- until he’d caught them, quite naked, and sharing an intimate moment: one of Gladio’s fingers tracing his own name on the small of his back. 

He dared to dream, sometimes. When he was with Noct… an ache in his chest he never noticed was there eased. He never felt more at home than when he was by the prince’s side. The way Noct looked at him sometimes… 

Only when the prince thought he wasn’t looking. Something like hope and longing in his eyes. The way he eyed the leather strap around his wrist, like he wished his name was underneath it. 

Prompto wished it was. He’d thought, someday soon, he would’ve told him everything. But there was no time now, no point. 

  
  


He turned around in the car seat, putting a grin on his face. “So, are you excited to see Lunafreya again?” 

Noctis’s face was carefully guarded. “Uh. Yeah. I guess.” 

Lunafreya and Noctis. Engaged. An act of faith to bind the peace treaty they were signing tonight. They would be married in three days. Noctis would be cut off from him forever. Binded by vows - and politics. 

But he was the bright one: always happy, never any hidden depths. He’d keep up the act for Noct, accompany him to his new life with a smile on his face. Anything for Noct. 

He continued to tease Noct until the prince went from playfully annoyed to genuinely irritated - a fine line Prompto had perfected over the years. 

They stopped at Galdin Quay, but the Imperial embargo kept them from going any further. Ignis called ahead to Altissia about the delays, and Prompto collapsed gratefully into the feather-soft bed. 

“No other rooms available,” Gladio said, dropping Noctis’s overnight bag at the foot of the wardrobe. 

“One bed,” Noct commented. 

“One of us can stay with you, should be enough protection for you here. The other two can take that caravan on the beach.” 

Prompto groaned reluctantly. Trading up this comfort for the public property caravan sounded like hell. “You then,” he said to Gladio, “you’re his shield.” 

Noctis huffed. “Don’t I get one night on the trip without Gladio snoring all night?” 

“You can sleep through anything,” he pointed out. “But it’s okay, Noct. I’ll take this bullet for you.” 

Gladio grunted. “Ignis doesn’t _mind_ my snoring.” 

“You and Specs can have the caravan then,” Noct decided, curling up under the sheets of the bed with a yawn. “Wake me in time for dinner.” 

Prompto looked up at their friend. “It’s smarter if Ignis says wth him.” 

“Don’t take it personally,” he replied, “but I’d rather spend the night with Iggy.” 

The blond grinned. “I don’t blame you. Enjoy your night with Iggy.” 

“We’ll be over with dinner later.” 

After Gladio left, Prompto settled onto the bed beside Noct, camera in hand, clicking through his photos of the day. He’d almost finished picking the ones he was going to print and keep when he heard a sleepy grumble beside him. 

“You better not be playing King’s Knight without me.” 

He looked down at Noctis, head still half-buried under the blankets. “I was just sorting through my photos. I promise.” 

The prince stirred, stretching a little “Wanna go get something to eat?” 

“Gladio said they’d be over with dinner.” 

“I’m going to tell them not to bother. They haven’t had much time to themselves lately. They’re going to be disgustingly affectionate, I don’t wanna to up with it.” 

Prompto put the camera down, and turned his full attention to the prince. “Not to get into all this heavy emotional stuff, but that sounded way more bitter than usual.” 

Noct sighed and tugged the sheets up over his head. “I’m supposed to be getting married in three days.” 

He hummed. “Yeah. To Lunafreya! You’re lucky.” 

He got an annoyed grunt in reply. 

“You don’t _want_ to marry her?” He asked quietly, surprised. “But… I always thought you were kinda in love with her.” 

Noctis didn’t exactly answer that. Instead, he murmured: “she’s not my soulmate.” 

“You don’t know that.” He shifted his camera off the bed, and moved so he was tucked under the sheets with the prince. Protecting them both from the outside world, settling them into together. Their breath mingled in the exposed space, strange and intimate. “Just because you don’t have her Name, doesn’t mean she can’t be yours.” 

Noctis squeezed his eyes closed. “She would have told me. She has to have someone else’s name.” 

“She agreed to marry you,” he pointed out. “She can’t have that many reservations.” Noct only shook his head. “Her name could be platonic. You should ask her about it when we get to Altissia.” 

He felt hands closing around his wrist, clenching the leather straps tight into his skin. “Prompto…?” 

“Noct,” he breathed. His heart raced, panicked that his secret was about to be ripped away. 

“Your pulse,” Noct whispered. “Your heart is racing.” 

“Noct.” 

He took that hand and pressed it against his own chest. Prompto could feel a frantic staccato underneath his fingers. “Mine too.” 

He wasn’t sure who kissed who first. But next thing he knew, their lips were mashed together - Noct’s hands tangled up in his hair, his own gripping in the black fabric of his fatigues. 

  
  


Minutes later, they were tangled up in each other’s arms, naked and exposed to each other. 

“Wow.” 

Noct chuckled, hands stroking through Prompto’s sweaty hair. “I’ve wanted to do that for ages.” 

“Dude, me too,” he laughed. 

Noct shifted, wrapping his fingers around the leather wristband again. “Tell me t says my name, Prom. Please,” he whispered. 

He cringed, fist clenching. He slowly unclenched his fingers. “It doesn’t.” Noctis gave a pained huff of air. “But believe me, Noct. I wish it did.” 


End file.
